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interest to Miriam's monologue about her travels. He was so tense, and she felt
that what Miriam had said about him in bed had hurt him. She remembered what
Coreen had said about his finding Miriam repulsive and she wondered if that was
what Miriam had been referring to. Odd that he'd gone so white at the reference.
Well, a woman like that could do plenty of damage even to a strong man's pride.
She had a vicious tongue and no tolerance for other people. It wasn't the kind of
attitude that kept a marriage together, especially when she'd never given Ethan
any kind of fidelity. That must have cut his heart to pieces, loving her as he had.
"What are you doing down here, Arabella?" Miriam asked eventually. "I
thought you were in New York."
"I was touring," Arabella replied. "I was on my way back from a charity
performance when the car was wrecked."
"She was coming back here," Ethan inserted smoothly with a warning glance at
Arabella. "She'd gone with her father. I should have driven her myself."
Arabella let out an inaudible sigh at the way she'd almost slipped up. Miriam
would hardly believe that she and Ethan were engaged if Arabella was living in
New York and they never saw each other.
"Will you be able to use your hand again, or is your career up the creek?"
Miriam asked with a pointed smile. "I guess Ethan wouldn't want you to do any-
thing except have babies anyway."
"As I recall," Ethan said coldly, "you were quite emphatic about not wanting
any. That was after I married you, of course," he added meaningfully.
Miriam shifted restlessly. "So I was. Is there anything to do around here? I hate
television," she said, quickly changing the subject.
"Ethan and Arabella and I like to watch the nature specials," Coreen said. "In
fact, there's a fascinating program about polar bears on tonight, isn't there,
dear?" she asked Ethan.
Ethan exchanged a glance with his mother. "There is, indeed."
Miriam groaned.
It was the longest day Arabella could remember. She managed to dodge Miriam
by staying with Ethan, even when he went out to check on the roundup. He usu-
ally took a horse, but in deference to Arabella's injured wrist, he was driving the
ranch pickup.
He glanced at her. "Doing okay?" he asked.
She smiled. "I'm fine, thanks." He'd changed out of his traveling clothes into his
worn jeans and boots and a blue plaid Western-cut shirt. His wide-brimmed hat
was tilted at a rakish angle over his forehead. He looked very cowboyish, and
Arabella grinned at the thought.
"Something funny?" he asked with a narrow, suspicious gaze.
"I was just thinking how much like a cowboy you look," she replied. "Not bad,
for the boss."
"I don't have to wear suits around the men to get their attention."
"I remember." She shuddered.
"Stop that." He took a draw from the smoking cigarette in his hand. "You were
a surprise this morning," he said unexpectedly. "You handled Miriam very well."
"Did you expect me to break into tears and run for cover?" she asked. "I've had
a lot of practice with bad-tempered people. I lived with my father, remember."
"I remember. Miriam's the one who ran for cover this time."
"You had a few bites of her, yourself. My gosh, what a venomous woman!" she
said huskily. "I don't remember her being that bad before.''
"You didn't know her before. Or maybe you did," he added quietly. "You saw
through her from the beginning."
She studied his averted face for a long moment, wanting to ask him something
more, but uncertain of the way to go about it.
He sensed her curiosity and glanced toward her. "Go ahead. Ask me."
She started. "Ask you what?"
He laughed coldly as he drove the truck along the rough track beside the fence,
bouncing them both in the seats even with the superior shocks under the truck
body. "Don't you want to know why she was surprised when you gave her the
impression we were lovers?"
"I thought she was just being sarcastic," she began.
He turned the truck and headed it toward another rutted path. Then abruptly
he stopped it and cut off the engine. He had the windows down, and the sounds
of birds and the distant bawling of cattle filtered in through it.
He sat with one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding the cigarette. He
shifted in the seat and stared at Arabella fully, his silver eyes touching her face
while he struggled with an explanation he didn't want to make. But Miriam was
bound to say something to Arabella, and he wanted it to come from him, not from
his venomous houseguest.
"Miriam took a lover two weeks after we were married," he said quietly. "There
was a procession of them until I divorced her. She said that I couldn't satisfy her
in bed."
He said it with icy bluntness, his eyes dark with pain, as if it were a reflection
on his manhood. Perhaps it was. Arabella had read that a man's ego was the most
vulnerable part of him. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]